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Nintendo TVii

Nintendo's TVii service for the Wii U is finally out, so you can take advantage of Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video. TVii will act as a media hub, providing several streaming services as well as your cable and DVR boxes into a cross-searchable package. You may've noticed he absence of Netflix and TiVo, however, but they are coming early next year. Japan was lucky enough to receive the service when the Wii U launched on the 8th of December, while folks in the US had no such luck, for whatever reason.

Check out the press release in full below.

Click to continue reading Nintendo’s TVii service now live on Wii U


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In light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, the videogame community is putting down their controllers for a day of rememberance. Dubbed "The Day of Cease Fire" and organized by Antwand Pearman, editor-in-chief of GamerFitNation.com, the event is a way for gamers to show the world that they care.

Though some politicians have recently condemned videogames as one of the roots of the violence in our society, Pearman's event is by no means an extension of that misguided thought.

"There's no such thing as world peace," said Pearman. "But at least we as gamers can show respect for the victims of Newtown. It's just a statement. What better statement than to say gamers will put down their virtual weapons in honor of peace."

December 21st marks the day when gamers will stop playing online shooters, such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Halo 4, and will take the day to pay respect to those who lost their lives just a week ago.

"A gesture like this shows that you give a damn," said Pearman. "I want gamers to unite and show they give a damn."

Read More | Facebook

Nintendo Wii Heist

Tis the season for stealing! No, what? 7,000 Nintendo Wii U consoles were nabbed from a SeaTac Seattle Air Cargo warehouse on Saturday night. Get this--the getaway vehicles were two semi trailers. The burglars managed to use forklifts to steal the pallets of the gaming consoles. It is speculated that it was an inside job. Police authorities are on the lookout for two semi trailers with the branding logo of McKinney. However, more likely than not, these will end up on internet sites such and Craigslist and eBay. Considering that each unit costs $300, it's not crazy to say that the thieves walked away with roughly 2.1 million dollars. Like they say, it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Click to continue reading $2.1 million in Wii U consoles stolen in Seattle heist

Read More | ABC News

GameStop's Indie Game Challenge is taking a hiatus, and won't be a part of DICE 2013 according to a rep from the company.

"The 2012 - 13 Indie Game Challenge (IGC) will be on hiatus while we take time to analyze ways to promote and celebrate the independent game movement," said Wendy Dominguez to Polygon. "We have been committed and continue to be committed to supporting the independent game developer community.

The last IGC was held in February 2012, where ten finalists competed for $250,000 in prizes. The last winner, Eyebrow Interactive, won $100,000 for Closure, a puzzler, and DigiPen's Nitronic Rush received the Gamer's Choice Award.

It's not clear yet whether there will be an indie presence at all during DICE 2013, but we'll keep you posted as more news develops.

Read More | Polygon

Next generation Xbox 720

We trust Google with a lot of things: we trust that it will be there for us when our memory fails and that it will find the best information for us. Can we trust it to predict the future for us too? Well, the future of consumer electronics at least.

Based on Google Trends searches, Microsoft's next generation system is poised to take down Sony's next Playstation console. Google Trends previously held the data that showed the winner of the high-def DVD race, as Blu-ray yielded more search results than HD DVD films. This time, news site Ludos Mundi used Google Trends to discover whose winning the next-gen popularity contest, and found users search "Xbox 720" about 60 percent of the time, compared to searches for "PS4" that occur 40 percent of the time.

You can use Google Trends yourself to see the data. Simply compare "Xbox 720" and "PS4" using the Forecast feature.

Read More | Ludos Mundi via Venture Beat


Museums must have something against Roger Ebert. First, the Smithsonian American Art Museum holds an exclusive video game event earlier this year, and now the New York City Museum of Modern Art is following suit.

MoMA is officially bringing in 14 videogame classics to begin an ongoing gaming collection that will go on display in March 2013 in the Philip Johnson Architecture and Design Galleries. Currently, the included games feature obvious choices such as Pac-Man, modern games like Portal, and obscure games like vib-ribbon. The collection MoMA is aiming for consists of about 40 titles, which will fall in as part of a "new category of artworks."

Click to continue reading Museum of Modern Art begins collecting video games for new exhibit

Read More | MoMA

Xbox Community Ambassador levels tiers

The Xbox Community Ambassador campaign now has five more tier levels added to it, which include awards ranging from free Avatar swag to the Xbox Live gamer spotlight. The Xbox Community Ambassador program rewards Xbox Live members who assist other members through chat or the forum, acting as a reputation system that awards XP that can be redeemed.

The new tiers are listed below:

  • Level 11, gold star avatar t-shirt.
  • Level 12, gold star avatar hat and 10 tickets for periodic ambassador sweepstakes.
  • Level 13, gamer spotlight, ilomilo on Xbox Live Arcade.
  • Level 14, one month Xbox Live subscription and 10 ambassador sweepstakes tickets.
  • Level 15, avatar spacesuit, 800 Microsoft Points.

If you're interested in becoming an ambassaor, you can apply here.

Read More | Xbox Community Ambassadors

Grand Theft Auto V PC

Mike Juliard's petition to get Rockstar to confirm the PC port of Grand Theft Auto 5 has surpassed 47,500 signatures, just 52,500 shy of his 100,000 goal.

From the petition: "GTA games have been a large part of so many peoples lives, and it’s a big shame not seeing the newest iteration of the game being released on the most powerful platform.”

One of the more pronounced reasons for a PC port is the mod community, as we've been privy to some amazing mods from GTA4 before it: “things like modifications have always been a HUGE part of PC gaming and modded GTA is some of the most insanely fun times you can have.”

According to Dan Houser of Rockstar, a PC port is "up for consideration," and this petition should do a lot to make Rockstar realize the PC audience's dedication to the franchise. Grand Theft Auto V is set for a Spring 2013 release.

Read More | PC Gamer

Xbox 360 black Friday sales

If Major Nelson's calculations are correct, the Xbox 360, a seven year-old console, has outsold the Wii U and Wii combined during the week of November 18th. The Wii U sold 400,000 units during its launch week, and the old Wii managed to still sell 300,000. The Xbox 360 sold 750,000. This is a remarkably high number for a console so late in it's life cycle, and it begs the question, do we need new hardware anytime soon?

The number of Xbox Live Gold subscriptions also increased more than 50 percent compared to last year's Black Friday week, with over 14 million people logged into Xbox Live on Sunday alone.

Sony hasn't revealed its numbers yet, but it looks like the Xbox 360 will end up being the best selling console in the US for November. You can pick one up on Amazon.

Read More | Major Nelson via Neowin


Nintendo Wii Mini

If you're looking for a budget friendly gaming console and you happen to live in Canada, then look no further than the Wii Mini for $100. The popular gaming console is in fact exclusive to Canada, eh! Sadly, the console breaks backwards compatibility with GameCube and lacks Internet access [Editor's note: Nintendo really dropped the ball here by removing Internet access. A $100 Wii Mini with Netflix, Hulu Plus, and YouTube access would be a fantastic set-top box.] It goes on sale on December 7th, and will be a cool Christmas stocking stuffer. Full press after the jump.

Click to continue reading Nintendo Wii Mini is a $100 Canada exclusive

Read More | Wii Mini

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